On the supply side, RICS reported their new instructions continued to decline. Average stock levels for estate agents remain near a record low. Both sales and price expectations continue to be flat in the near term; however, there is greater optimism in the longer-term outlook, particularly for prices.

In the Bank of England’s Agents’ summary of business conditions for the period covering late February to mid-April, Agents reported subdued market activity overall. Both demand and supply were weak in the market for existing properties, whereas demand for new builds had been robust, supported by Help to Buy. There was some excess supply in the south and excess demand in the north, leading to a modest excess of supply overall.

The UK Property Transaction Statistics for April 2018 showed that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of transactions on residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 100,190. This is 2.7% lower compared to a year ago. Between March and April 2018, transactions increased by 3.5%.

The Bank of England’s Money and Credit release showed that on a seasonally adjusted basis, 62,455 mortgages were approved in April 2018. This is a decrease of 347 from the previous month and is below the 6-month average of 63,968. Mortgage approvals are seen to be a leading indicator of transactions volumes.

Looking at the country and English regional level, the South West was the fastest growing region with an annual growth rate of 6.1%, up from 5.3% in the previous month. This was closely followed by the West Midlands at 5.9%. London was the slowest growing region at 1%, up from -0.5% in the previous month. This is the 6th consecutive month that London has the lowest annual growth rate of any UK country or English region.

Price changes by country and government office region

On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.7% between April 2018 and March 2018, compared with an increase of 0.5% in average prices during the same period a year earlier.

Note that the Northern Ireland figure represents a three-month change and is not comparable with the other regions and countries.

4. Sales volumes

Due to a period of 2 to 8 weeks between completion and registration of sales, volume figures for the most recent two months are not yet at a reliable level for reporting, so they are not included in the report.

Sales volume data is also available by property status (new build and existing property) and funding status (cash and mortgage) in our downloadable data tables. Transactions involving the creation of a new register, such as new builds, are more complex and require more time to process. Read Revisions to the UK HPI data for more information.

4.2 Sales volumes for the UK over the past 5 years

Sales volumes for 2014 to 2018 by country: February

In February 2018, the number of property transactions completed in the UK decreased by 16.8% when compared to February 2017. Compared to January 2018, the number of property transactions completed in the UK decreased by 4.9%.

The estimate for February 2018 is calculated based on around 90% of the final registered transactions. It is likely that the number of property transactions for February 2018 will increase as more transactions are incorporated into the index.

New build and existing resold property

Note: since October 2017 release, amendments have been made to our estimation model when calculating our provisional estimate. Find out further information and the impact of this change in methods used to produce the UK HPI.

6. Buyer status for Great Britain

First time buyer and former owner occupier

For Great Britain only, Northern Ireland data is not available for buyer status.

Help us improve GOV.UK

Help us improve GOV.UK

To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. We’ll send you a link to a feedback form. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Don’t worry we won’t send you spam or share your email address with anyone.